Campylobacteriosis is primarily a food-borne disease with the handling and consumption of poultry considered to be the most significant risk factor in transmission. Infection by Campylobacter spp. is one of the leading causes of bacterial gastroenteritis, causing an estimated 1.3 million cases annually in the U.S. (Scallan et al, 2011), resulting in health care costs of $0.8-5.6 billion per year (Buzby et al., 1997). Serious complications such as arthritis occur in an estimated 1-5% of cases (Pope et al., 2007)) and Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a form of neuromuscular paralysis, occurs at a rate of 1.0 per 1,000 patients (Altekruse and Tollefson, 2003). Due to the emergence and persistence of antibiotic resistance coupled with increasing regulatory restrictions on the industry, control strategies such as vaccination are urgently needed. To date, there is no intervention method or vaccine available to the producer to reduce numbers of Campylobacter in poultry going to processing.
Beginning Jul. 1, 2011, USDA-FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) has implemented new performance standards for Campylobacter for young chicken chilled carcasses at slaughter establishments (FSIS NOTICE, 31-11, 6/30/11). These standards will allow no more than 8 positive Campylobacter samples out of a 51-sample set, with plans to initially warn the companies and fines to be imposed in 2013. A large baseline study was conducted in our laboratory (funded by the USDA) to quantify Campylobacter levels in slaughtering plants from 2007-2009. Our studies demonstrated 21.9% (213/972) of post-chilled carcass rinse samples were positive for Campylobacter, which amounts to 11.17 per 51-sample set. Clearly, this is over the allowable number of Campylobacter from chilled carcass samples and will precipitate the issuing of fines for both the producer and processing plant unless a reduction of Campylobacter in poultry can be obtained. Currently, there are no available intervention methods or vaccines available for producers to use to reduce the Campylobacter load in poultry.